Tallie paused at the photo of Zora, remembering how cute she was waddling around that monster of a house. How Zora would take Tallie’s hand and place it on her belly so she could feel her nephew thump-flop around in there like a fish.
Tallie’s dad and Lionel in Yellowstone. Lionel, Zora, and River in Atlanta. Lionel and Zora in Vancouver at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Lionel and his best friend at the 2014 FIFA World Cup. Lionel, Zora, and River sitting next to a pile of leaves. Lionel, Zora, and River and a snowman, waving at the camera. Lionel and Tallie and their parents at Lionel and Zora’s wedding.
Nico and Tallie had gone together to that wedding all those years ago, and Nico had been stoked when Tallie caught the bouquet. There’d been some overlap between those first few dates with Joel and a reconnect with Nico. Joel had been at the wedding, too, and he and Tallie had shared a drunksy slow dance to a Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald duet. She and Nico went back to his place and had sex in the kitchen. He slicked the hem of her dress up around her waist and unzipped himself—his suit pants sliding down slowly, pooling around his feet like an inkblot.
She knew all the stories behind the photos on Lionel’s wall. She’d even noticed a year ago when Lionel replaced a picture of him and Joel—sweaty after one of their soccer matches—with one of Tallie and Zora in the kitchen, posing like supermodels.
*
“Way too many bedrooms up here. I mean, who’s sleeping in these bedrooms?” Tallie said, drinking her champagne. She and Emmett had made it to the third floor of Lionel’s house after stopping to chat with a few more people Tallie knew. On the top floor: four bedrooms, two bathrooms, an office the size of a public library, and a library the size of a small city. At least one amorous couple had hijacked the biggest bedroom at the end of the hallway; a tube sock hung limp and phallic on the doorknob.
“I saw Tinker Bell and a werewolf go in there. Although I didn’t know adults needed to do the tube-sock thing. We get it. It’s overkill, really. Now, that’s braggy,” Emmett said quietly, thumbing toward the door.
“Wow, you’re right. It is braggy,” Tallie said, laughing.
They wandered lazily, taking everything in. Still no sign of Lionel, but there was plenty to see. Tallie peeked into one bedroom with the door open. A couple dressed as a fork and spoon kissed against the wall. A Bride of Frankenstein sat on the bed, scrolling through her phone before looking up and giving Tallie a smile that she returned. In another bedroom, two of Tallie’s cousins, dressed as salt and pepper shakers, waved to her. She asked them if they knew the fork and spoon and they exploded into laughter, telling her she was the fourth person to ask them that.
“Fork person to ask us that,” her cousin said before laughing again.
Tallie giggled, patting them both on the head.
“Have you seen my brother?” she asked.
“Not yet. What’s his costume?” her cousin asked.
“He never tells me,” Tallie said. Emmett stood quietly, listening.
“Lionel is withholding. He’s been like that since he was a boy,” her cousin said.
“Don’t I know it? And this is Emmett,” Tallie said, touching his shoulder.
“Aunt Judy told us all about Emmett. Well, Aunt Judy told Mama, and Mama told us,” her cousin said, motioning to his sister standing next to him.
“Nice to meet you both,” Emmett said.
One cousin winked, the other waved before Tallie and Emmett went across the hallway to nose around. That bedroom ceiling was covered with orange and silver balloons trailing slick, curly ribbons. They found a small group of costumed partyers, a rainbow strobe light, a phone on the bed with trippy electronica beeping from it. Lionel’s best friend, Ben, dressed as LeBron James, was laughing and dancing with a woman in an owl costume. He waved to Tallie, and she waved back.
*
The second-floor landing was astir with a gob of women in beaded flapper dresses. Tallie stared in wonder before looking down over the balcony and turning, literally bumping into Nico, not immediately recognizing him in costume.
“Hey!” he said, his voice giving him away. And if it hadn’t, his eyes would’ve—that unmistakable cerulean blinking at her from his pale greenish-yellow face. He was wearing tattered pants, and the T-shirt underneath his blazer read THE MONSTER’S NAME IS NOT FRANKENSTEIN. Was the Bride of Frankenstein his date? Something that felt like jealousy prickled Tallie’s armpits; she’d lied to herself when she thought she wouldn’t feel it. She was an electric guitar now, and someone had plugged her in, started shredding.